What Is Spousal Protection?

By
Roscich & Martell Law Firm, LLC
|August 20, 2013

Planning an estate can be a complicated process. There's a lot to think about when determining
what is best for you, your spouse, and your beneficiaries. In the throes
of planning what to do with what's left when you're gone, sometimes
the most obvious questions get left unanswered.
According to
AARP Magazine, spousal protection is one of the most oft-overlooked processes of estate
planning.
AARP cites the story of Jean. She and her husband Charles had planned and saved
and configured their finances, and were happily living off Charles'
pension and their joint Social Security benefits. “Then Charles
died suddenly at 66, taking his pension and part of their Social Security
income with him. Jean could not quite maintain her lifestyle,” laments
AARP. Their big mistake, the magazine reports, is that they did not consider
spousal protection in their planning. This sometimes means making two
different budgets—one for both spouses, in the event that both people
live late; one that's a contingency plan in case the person who was
the primary earner dies early.

One thing to consider when thinking of spousal protection is in what way
you'd like to receive your company pension, if that's an option.
According to
AARP, you'll have the opportunity to take it either in a lump sum or in
payouts throughout the rest of your life. “If you choose the lifetime
income, there's another choice: a single-life pension that ends when
you die (yielding higher monthly payments) or a joint-and-survivor pension
that also covers your spouse (yielding lower payments),” according to
AARP. Some people opt for the lump sum payment and take the risk that their investments
will do well. In today's user-friendly investment world, this could
be a good option.

Determining how to protect your spouse in the event of your early death,
especially if you were the primary breadwinner before retirement, is just
one complicated aspect of
estate planning. Don't go through it alone. Contact a dedicated
estate-planning attorney today.

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